Tag Archives: associated press

Too much going on right now in this scary, thrilling time to write about all of it myself. So I’ll hit the links that I find worthy of recommending to you. Unlike other link lineups, you won’t be finding a list of stories about a mid-market anchor signing off or a weatherman who got a DUI.

I’d like to bring you a collection of stories that can spur some ideas–get your pulse pumping at the thought of the next big thing and how you can be right in the thick of it.

We can sit here and bitch about the old media companies and their cost-cutting and soul-crushing ways, or we can start turning our attention to what will be replacing those companies. It’s an innovation revolution out there, don’t miss it!

Times are tough for newspaper and broadcast companies. But times are intensely exciting for journalists.

On the Links, you’ll find some inspiration, and food for thought.

Brian Stelter at the Times has a great read today on how journalism rules are challenged by Twitter-reporting and iReport vide0 posts: Journalism Rules Are Bent in News Coverage From Iran.

BuzzMachine’s Jeff Jarvis is working a CUNY project aimed at supporting, studying, and helping spread hyperlocal news projects across the country. They’re looking for your input on what works, and what doesn’t: Help Us Help Hyperlocal News.

Julie Posetti at MediaShift also takes up the important questions about Twitter that have grown out of the Iran story, and she’s interviewed journalists worldwide to determine how journos and news operations are using the Tweet: Rules of Engagement for Journalists on Twitter.

The AP’s Michael Liedtke reports a web news startup, Journalism Online, predicts it will hit a target of one in ten users paying for content: News Startup Expects 10 Percent of Web Readers to Pay.

Media General confirmed the rumors today, with word that “despite aggressive sales initiatives and significant cost reductions already implemented, we need to build in additional expense savings to offset the revenue shortfalls we anticipate,” in the decidedly corporate words of Marshall Morton, Media General’s CEO. To put in words more commonly floated around television newsrooms, you just got two weeks off, whether you want ’em–or can afford ’em. No pay.

Media General owns 19 local television stations, including WFLA/Tampa, WVTM/Birmingham, WSAV/Savannah, and WJAR/Providence. Employees will be forced to take ten unpaid days, including four days off before the end of March, according to the Associated Press. The AP reports the company has already cut costs by $19 million dollars by suspending matching payments to employees’ 401(k) retirement plans.

Media General's WSAV/Savanahh

The furloughs follow a round of corporate layoffs across several Media General stations over the last few months, including 80 positions cut in Florida last November, and on-air cuts in Birmingham and Charleston just weeks ago.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the furloughs are mandatory for all non-union, non-contract employees, though union and contract employees will be asked to “voluntarily” participate in the ten no work, no pay days.

Media General confirmed the rumors today, with word that “despite aggressive sales initiatives and significant cost reductions already implemented, we need to build in additional expense savings to offset the revenue shortfalls we anticipate,” in the decidedly corporate words of Marshall Morton, Media General’s CEO. To put in words more commonly floated around television newsrooms, you just got two weeks off, whether you want ’em–or can afford ’em. No pay.

Media General owns 19 local television stations, including WFLA/Tampa, WVTM/Birmingham, WSAV/Savannah, and WJAR/Providence. Employees will be forced to take ten unpaid days, including four days off before the end of March, according to the Associated Press. The AP reports the company has already cut costs by $19 million dollars by suspending matching payments to employees’ 401(k) retirement plans.

Media General's WSAV/Savanahh

The furloughs follow a round of corporate layoffs across several Media General stations over the last few months, including 80 positions cut in Florida last November, and on-air cuts in Birmingham and Charleston just weeks ago.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the furloughs are mandatory for all non-union, non-contract employees, though union and contract employees will be asked to “voluntarily” participate in the ten no work, no pay days.